ABOUT THE SUZUKI METHOD
The Suzuki method, developed by Shinichi Suzuki, is the method of teaching music in the same way you learn to speak. It focuses on listening and repetition. In the same way a child grows up speaking their language, they can also grow up with music.
Shinichi Suzuki realized that children speak the language they grow up hearing. Even the most difficult languages come easy to the children who speak them natively. Suzuki reasoned that if children could learn such challenging languages simply by hearing them, they could also learn to play an instrument in the same way. They learn by hearing things repeated over and over again. In this way Suzuki developed the Suzuki method. A common misconception of the Suzuki method is that children are not taught to read music. They do learn to read music but are able to start playing at a younger age and learn to read music as the get older.
An important factor to the Suzuki method is listening. Children are encouraged to listen to the pieces they are working on many times. The more they hear it the better, faster, and more accurately they can conquer the piece. They can also learn expression and musicality from listening to great performers.
The Suzuki method uses memorization of pieces as a way to make students faster learners and more musical. Those who develop the skill of memorizing quickly, learn faster than those who can’t memorize things well. In memorizing a song it also enables them to be freer to focus on polishing the piece instead of thinking about notes. Memorizing is a great way to become a quicker learner.
Repetition is another key component of the Suzuki method. By repeating things correctly hundreds or thousands of times you can gain excellence. It often starts out slowly. The first time you learn something new it might take thousands of repetitions to learn it properly. But after time things will become easy quicker and learning new things won’t be as hard.
Suzuki stresses the importance of building a good character. He puts it even above that of high ability. Music should help to mold your character. To attain a high level of musical sense it is important for us to keep a pure mind and high sense of values.
The parents are extremely important in the nurturing of their children. It is through them that children first learn. They have the big responsibility of instilling in them at a young age the values they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. In the Suzuki method, the parents play an active role in the learning process. Learning should be made fun for the children. They should be able to enjoy learning. It takes lots of hard work and dedication but if it can be made enjoyable it will keep them interested and they will want to practice.
So, learning with the Suzuki method is an effective way to get results. In the same way as we learn to speak we can learn to play an instrument. With lots of listening, daily repetition, hard work, dedicated parents, and love, we can climb our mountain to success.